stricklands' bloghttps://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com
genealogy and family tiesWed, 21 Jun 2017 22:24:23 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngstricklands' bloghttps://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com
Visit a Tobacco Farm Virginia 1771https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/visit-a-tobacco-farm-virginia-1771/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/visit-a-tobacco-farm-virginia-1771/#respondWed, 21 Jun 2017 22:24:21 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2913Continue reading Visit a Tobacco Farm Virginia 1771]]>In my rambles today on a search for my maternal grandmother’s Moore family I ran across the following video of a reenacted, modest Virginia tobacco farm as life had been prior to the Revolutionary War, circa 1771. The video seems to have no audio but you may appreciate the view which includes the necessity to shoo the chickens out of the cabin.

Well, the cluckers do sometimes get underfoot, if memory serves, for in my childhood my parents kept chickens and guinea hens until the mid-1950s (near Athens, GA) and they and their eggs do seem to be in style again!

And though it’s doubtful that Claude Moore or his crew are ancestors of mine you may wish to check out life on a colonial Virginia farm anyway:

Mary Lee Moore was born in 1884 in Carroll County, Georgia so naturally I searched for Carroll County GA 1890 Census records thinking she might be listed as a 5 or 6 year old child. There are early Moores listed for Carroll County GA including two James Moores (P. and D.) , plus, William Howard and Israel Moore Sr. who married two Formby sisters, “Polly” and “Sallie”. So far, I cannot match our Mary Lee with her father, mother, or other Moore ancestors though of course I shall keep searching. Mary Lee died on January 30, 1964 when I was a young teen and the two of us were never very close even though she was around quite often.

Actually, the thing I remember most about her was her love of fishing. She was about fishing the way Mr. Trump is about golfing–fishing all day at her favorite lake whenever she had a chance.

Having so far no exact birth date for her, the astrologer in me wonders if she was born with one or more planets in fishy Pisces, sign of the two Fishes! (Of course, a love of fishing can also express through Jupiter and/or Neptune signatures, even without Pisces planets. Plus, we all have all the signs in our natures even if no planets are placed there. Anyway, I was born with a Pisces Moon (as was my mother!) and have expressed this creative energy in my life through a love of drawing botanical portraits of tropical fish which may be viewed at my art blog Dreamyfish Art (float over, as you wish!)

And for those who may be curious, here’s the story (with newspaper photo of the aftermath) of how the 1890 Census records stored in the basement of the Commerce Building were destroyed or hopelessly damaged by water, smoke, and fire on January 10, 1921. At least the fire damage of these official records made it obvious, even to the dumbest of politicians, that a safer, more secure method of storage was needed.

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/moore-search-leads-to-1921-fire/feed/2judeEarliest Hickman Ancestor Found!https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/earliest-hickman-ancestor-found/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/earliest-hickman-ancestor-found/#respondFri, 26 May 2017 16:37:49 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2782Continue reading Earliest Hickman Ancestor Found!]]>This morning my earliest known Hickman ancestor was discovered by yours truly, a mere armchair researcher. Never before had I seen the lineage of Mary Hickman wife of Henry Peter Strickland so I was glad to follow her parentage back to England. Here is what researchers have found so far about this particular early Hickman (sometimes spelled ‘Hitchman’) line:

Mary Hickman b. 1750 Nash Co, NC; died before 1744 Jackson Co, GA descends from parents Nathaniel Hickman and Sarah Ann (Strickland? perhaps). Nathaniel was b. 1715 Isle of Wight Co, VA and died before November 10, 1795. Sarah Ann was also born in Isle of Wight Co, VA in 1713. They lived and died in Edgecombe Co, NC.

Nathaniel’s parents were William and Mary Williams Hickman (Isle of Wight, VA/NC), both born in the 1600s. William’s will was proved on February 19, 1744 with son Nathaniel as executor. William’s father was Edward Hickman born about 1615/30 in England, died James City, VA. The geni dot com site has Edward born circa 1615 in Lincolnshire, England.

Edward’s father Nathaniel Hickman I was born circa 1580 in England and died 1656 in James City, VA. He is the earliest Hickman ancestor of our Mary that I’ve found. No location for his birth has come to light (that I know of) but his wife Elizabeth Hickman (b. circa 1544 or later) is listed as being born in GreatMissenden, Buckinghamshire, England so naturally I looked up the village and discovered that it’s famous as the home of children’s author, Roald Dahl who lived at Gipsy House from 1954 until his death in 1990.

Here’s a video tour featuring the Roald Dahl Museum:

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/earliest-hickman-ancestor-found/feed/0judeAnne Wolseley Calvert of Marylandhttps://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/anne-wolseley-calvert-of-maryland/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/anne-wolseley-calvert-of-maryland/#respondTue, 23 May 2017 18:04:25 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2727Continue reading Anne Wolseley Calvert of Maryland]]>For those who may be searching for ancestors of the Baltimore family, you have probably discovered an excellent resource, one I only just discovered today.

Having on my shelf a copy of Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607–1635, I immediately checked to see which of the Calverts were listed. Two of the male line were there: George Calvert II and Leonard Calvert, George’s younger brother. Both were sons of Sir George Calvert. The Calverts established a settlement they called St. Mary’s City in Maryland (being of the Roman Catholic persuasion as they were.)

Now in George II‘s listing there is very little information but mention is made of an AnneCalvert, the first Lord Baltimore’s wife who drowned during a heavy storm in Maryland in 1634. George II’s will was prepared on July 10, 1634 and proved on January 19, 1635. And I suppose that this Anne was the mother of George II and Leonard.

For Leonard, more info is available–such as his being the “incumbent governor” (“actually, lieutenant-general,” says the listing) who summoned before him on December 8, 1634 one William Claiborne, my ancestor, and surveyor of Jamestown. No doubt the court summons was part of their disagreement over Claiborne’s early claim to Kent Island, named after his native Kent, England. As you know, the Baltimores eventually won that tussle.

So here’s a link to this new (for me!) resource for historical and/or genealogical research: Written in Bone where you can see the forensic recreation of Anne Wolseley Calvert, read about the discovery of her lead coffin, and much more.

I just love how History comes along with Genealogy whether you expect it or not!

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/anne-wolseley-calvert-of-maryland/feed/0judeHistory Comes with Genealogyhttps://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/2651/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/2651/#respondWed, 10 May 2017 17:37:45 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2651Continue reading History Comes with Genealogy]]>As I read more and more about our Puritan and Cavalier ancestors, both of which describe my lineage in part, I came across the following quote from the author of the America’s Forgotten History series. Perhaps you’re familiar with it:

“Puritans and Cavaliers each brought their own customs. In England, Puritans baked while Cavaliers fried, as their descendants in both England and America still tend to do today.”

Currently I’m reading Part One: Foundations in which the author describes the origins of various migrations to the New World, the earliest two being primarily the Puritans and Cavaliers. He notes how the Puritans hailed from East Anglia, “the easternmost thumb of England” while the “highly educated” Cavaliers, most of them single men, migrated from the Sussex and Wessex regions and from “the rest of the rural south and west of England”. Among other things, he accounts for the dominance in “fields of intellectual accomplishments” in New England by way of an educated class of immigrants whose origin was East Anglia. Predictably, there was also the “unskilled, uneducated, indentured servants” class which formed “the base of the hierarchical Cavalier pyramid”.

Five Migrations

These groups and the groups that followed “planted in new soil old ideas and prejudices little ameliorated by time or geography.” Cavaliers were proud of their knightly heritage and the honor code and sense of duty that they lived by and passed on through the generations. Their place names in the New World were often “royalist” names while Puritans gave their towns and counties the East Anglia names they’d been accustomed to, names that are prevalent across New England today.

Mr. Ledbetter also states that the two groups “remained different and antagonistic in America,” which we currently see on several levels of American society. He also addresses dialects, religion, and slavery in early America along with other topics such as the East India Company and the Bank of England, the combination and results of business plus government (a timely topic these days), and the central banking system referred to in the US as the privately owned ‘Federal Reserve System’.

And since one the things I most appreciate about genealogical research is the History that comes with it, I recommend the America’s Forgotten History series of books by Mark David Ledbetter for gaining a general overview of the migrations to the New World which many of our ancestors made possible.

And yes, I am still finding sources that give my paternal grandmother’s Strickland line going back to the Sizergh Castle Stricklands (who go back to the de Vauxs of Normandy). This line is said to pass through the two Matthews, father and son, who immigrated to America and settled (as it seems) in Isle of Wight County, Virginia with some of their descendants eventually removing to the 13th Colony of Georgia (from whence I type north of Atlanta).

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/walter-stricklands-example-of-flight/feed/0judeWhen an Ancestor’s Name Has Changedhttps://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/when-an-ancestors-name-has-changed/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/when-an-ancestors-name-has-changed/#respondThu, 27 Apr 2017 16:11:17 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2608]]>Here’s some genealogy research advice you may benefit from!

Just over four hundred years ago, on April 5, 1614, the Pocahontas-Rolfe Wedding took place at Jamestown Colony, Virginia. Let’s snoop a little and have a peek at the astrological factors influencing their union with the Sun as male principle (husband) and the Moon as feminine principle (wife). Since the hour of their nuptial ceremony is unknown (to me at least!) we first check the range of movement during the 24 hours for Sun and Moon:

Sun 15 Aries 13 to 16 Aries 12, and Moon 1 Pisces 06 to 13 Pisces 39. At noon that day, Sun 15 Aries 42, Moon 7 Pisces 24 which gives the famous couple and their relationship a steamy Fire-Water Sun Aries-Moon Pisces blend. We may be confident of this since the Moon remained in Pisces for the 24-hour period of their historically recorded wedding day.

With a Sun Aries-Moon Pisces personality blend, this Arien husband, a settler in the New World, is well described by Mars-ruled Aries, sign of the pioneer and adventurer. When blended as in marriage, a softening occurs with the addition of a gentle Pisces Moon representing wife Pocahontas.

This is a romantic, affectionate, and hopeful combination–kind-hearted yet moody which can undermine the relationship if one is not careful. There is a good helping of initiative involved though true intentions may be misunderstood by others. ‘Realism mixes with idealism’ is one way to describe their union and this paradoxical combo can cause inner and outer confusion as bold Aries unites with elusive Pisces.

Basically, Sun Aries-Moon Pisces describes the Rolfe marriage as a non-conformist, maverick sort of union (could some have disapproved?) which can lead others (Aries) yet must withdraw at times (Pisces) in order to refresh, a typical solution to life’s problems these days for all Pisces folk! A Pisces Moon also describes someone who tends to absorb whatever emotions are within the environment and this can be exhausting for a Pisces Moon owner (yours truly, typing from experience!)

Now as you know, the Rolfes had one son, Thomas Rolfe, and were (apparently) a happy couple in spite of all the expectations placed upon their union by others such as peace between the colonists and Pocahontas’ tribe, the Powhatans. Sadly, Pocahontas became ill as a return voyage got underway and she died at Gravesend, England on March 21, 1617 and is buried there.

Returning to the Virginia Colony, John Rolfe remarried (Jane Pierce) after 1619 in Jamestown and the controversy over documented descendants of his Aries-Pisces marriage to Pocahontas continues for some researchers to this day.

If you’re curious, here’s a link to the WikiTree page of Pocahontas,aka, Rebecca Rolfe:

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/pocahontas-weds-john-rolfe/feed/0judeMarriage_of_PocahontasSo Many Taylors!https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/so-many-taylors/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/so-many-taylors/#respondSat, 04 Mar 2017 03:54:21 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2347Continue reading So Many Taylors!]]>In Martha W. McCarthy’s compilation volume Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, there is a listing in the Taylor section that for me stands out from the rest (and there are several Taylors in the book). Of course, I pay attention to Taylor (Tailor) references in Genealogy sources primarily because there’s apparently such a one far up in my family tree but I would need to shake it pretty hard to be able to nab just the right leaf as she fluttered to the root area of the tree where I can pick her up and wonder if ‘our’ Taylor descends from any of the Jamestown families of Taylors listed in the McCarthy book.

So far, this knowledge is elusive to me but hope springs. So the interesting fellow of which I type is Richard Taylor (born c. 1575), an ancient planter who arrived in Virginia in September 1608 aboard the Mary Margaret. Richard was quite active in court proceedings of various sorts, testifying in 1623 about a case involving “the men the Company of Shipwrights sent to the colony–” and Captain Thomas Barwick.

Now in 1623 Richard Taylor and his wife were residing at Bermuda Hundred (plantation – tobacco, you know) and were still there in 1624. That’s where their daughter Mary was born. By March 1626 Richard was testifying in a slander case, then in September 1626 “he ran afoul of the law by making statements against the government while inebriated.” Whoo! Quite a racy fellow for the Colonial Virginia era, don’t you think?

Yes, there’s more on Richard Taylor’s ‘rap sheet’ but I’ll spare you. Suffice to say that his last known court appearance seems to have been on January 24, 1629 when he served on a jury. Hopefully, he was sober for that and past his ‘throw caution to the wind’ stage of life. Yet being a risk-taker had to be a useful trait to have for pioneers such as themselves.

And when I think of it, I’m amazed that anyone could be spunky enough to willingly cross the storm-ridden Atlantic Ocean while riding in various sizes of wooden tubs with sails. Initially in some cases, of course, the passengers were gentry, or of ‘the nobility’ but a bit later many immigrants to Virginia were not. Some folks were rounded up “from the streets of London” or were those sentenced in court to be separated from their errant lives in England and sent onward to brighter, golden futures in the New World.

As things turned out, at least during the Colony’s early years, life in the New World was a dangerous proposition, a definite testing of character, strength, courage, and resolve. As you can imagine, there are other tales of daring-do and danger to be told about those early days in America but perhaps another time. For now let’s close with that link I promised you, one you may wish to follow if you’re curious. And yet I really don’t know what you want to do at this particular moment but if you’ve managed to read to the last of this fret or whatever it is, kudos and felicitations!

Update March 25, 2017: I must add a PDF just discovered that is chocked full of Taylor information including the ancient planter Richard Taylor I mentioned above (to Virginia in September 1608 aboard the Mary Margaret) and lists some of the family members’ removal to Kentucky.

]]>https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/so-many-taylors/feed/0judeJimsonWeedandMossThomas Hobson (circa 1544–1 Jan 1631)https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/thomas-hobson-circa-1544-1-jan-1631/
https://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/thomas-hobson-circa-1544-1-jan-1631/#respondSat, 18 Feb 2017 18:35:51 +0000http://stricklandsblog.wordpress.com/?p=2263Continue reading Thomas Hobson (circa 1544–1 Jan 1631)]]>Today as I returned to my Hobson (Hopson) research, I ran across a note I scribbled to myself months ago–to search for info on Thomas Hobson. Not that my line in Old Virginia leads back to Thomas of Cambridge but merely as a matter of curiosity. After all, poet John Milton satirized Thomas multiple times in ‘mock epitaphs’!

Actually, my interest in Thomas and his Choice may have something to do with my constant blogging on Politics through the excellent lens of Astrology and the recent Inauguration of Donald Trump for my eye was caught by Thomas Hobson‘s innovative business model which inspired the label “Hobson’s Choice” to be coined after his demise. For US presidential elections are known for that ‘lesser of two evils’ feeling most voters have when facing two candicates who, no matter the ‘new boss’ victor, will only continue implementing the same Big Picture agenda as the president before. Of course, this makes a mockery of our often-touted ‘peaceful passing of the baton’ phenomenon since our two choices are really only one choice thanks to shadowy enablers who always back both sides of any issue or election, the better to control outcomes. To me this resembles a Hobson’s Choice–“this one or none,” aka, take it or leave it (aka, stay home, don’t bother voting at all).

During the lifetime of Thomas Hobson the phrase refers to his livery stable where he rented horses and where the fastest, most popular of them needed to rest between trips so the ‘next horse in line’ only was offered to a customer for rent, or the customer could choose to walk instead. or find other arrangements.

And yet, Thomas’ reputation as a miser is undeserved and if you’re curious (and/or have Hobson ancestry of your own!) you may wish to read about him on his Wikipedia page, his portrait included:

Thomas Hobson where you’ll find that he purchased the Anglesey Priory in 1625 and turned it into a country house called Anglesey Abbey which now belongs to Britain’s National Trust. Located 5 1/2 miles north of Cambridge in Lode, here’s a view–take it or leave it!

Anglesey Abbey, viewed from the south; 21 October 2006; 13:18:21; own work James.stringer; file licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported